How do you feel about doing business with a company whose email is from a generic domain such as aol.com or comcast.net? Personally, I’d rather deal with bob.smith@greatcompany.com than greatcompany@aol.com, as the guys with their own domain seem successful enough to afford it. Does it make a difference to you?
It’s interesting you mention affordability. You can register a domain name for about $15/year. I’m sure you can find a bottom level host for a basic web site and e-mail for $15/month. So in actuality, it’s not an issue of affordability.
I suppose I’m a bit wary of the type of e-mail address you mention. I think either way it’s not enough of an issue to not evaluate them further and once you do that the e-mail address is pretty inconsequential.
Yeah. More than affordability I think my first reaction would be either that they’re not technically savvy enough to find and set up business domain email, or that they don’t care about meeting that image expectation. Not a big deal, but something I’d notice.
If I’m dealing with a one-man “company” in a non-IT field, e.g. my pest control guy, it’s 100% OK.
If they’re purporting to be bigger than that, or are in IT, well they’ve proven themselves to be either clueless or liars.
I’m a freelance web developer, it’s just me, and I never pretend to be part of some bigger company. I do contract work for various clients, and my email address is firstname.lastname@gmail.com
Would that matter to you, if you knew I was a one-man operation who trades under my own name?
This frequently comes up on the freelancing/copyediting lists. Generally a “generic” address is considered less professional-looking. And I agree.
What really boggles me is when someone does have their own [noparse]www.GreatEditor.com domain, with fancy Web site and all, but their e-mail address is GreatEditor@aol.com. WTF??? Show me a hosting plan that doesn’t come with at least one e-mail account.
(I’m the opposite; I own my own domain, and my professional e-mail address is firstname@mydomain.com[/noparse], but my Web page has a picture of my dogs and an e-mail link. One of these days I’ll get around to doing a proper Web site.)
Re straggler’s question: For some reason, a Gmail address doesn’t bother me as much; I think it does tend to indicate someone as a bit more savvy. (I use gmail for all my freemail addresses.) But I guess I’d still wonder why you wouldn’t pop for a domain name; they’re cheap enough. And I’d be a bit surprised about a Web developer without his/her own Web site.
It might, depending on what I need. Your e-mail isn`t going to do much to confuse the issue though. I’ve always felt that if you’re a 1 or 2 man shop, you should be up front about it. Not that many people are. You’re not going to fool anyone though so don’t try. Even if my immediate impression is you have a whole firm, I’m just going to ask how many people work with you when we start talking about your capabilities.
My IP attorney works alone with an assistant and paralegal. He always without exception refers to himself as a firm. I always want to ask him who the fuck this “we” he’s always talking about is that’s handling my work. Him, and his assistant? I don’t mean to denigrate his assistant and paralegal but from context, he’s clearly trying to sound like there’s a small firm of actual lawyers and I know there isn’t. In his case, he’s competent and very affordable and has experience in my space, so I’m fine with him being on his own. I just wish he’d stop pretending he’s plural.
I think it depends on the field - tech or not? - and the size. If the company is not so big as to have their own IT person; or they obviously don’t want to spend a lot of time fiddling with IT trivia, then something like Gmail makes sense.
I agree, I think I’d be more impressed they use Gmail than AOL, but I remember the early AOL days, when they were sort-of-internet-for-dummies. I assume it’s different now.
Even our local phone & DSL provider will set up your own address and 10 or 25 mailboxes - i.e. fred.smith@mybiz.com - which are just aliases for their own SMTP mail service. So the entry for that sort of service is not difficult nowadays.
For a single tech contractor, I think I don’t have a problem with a generic address. If you could be changing cities, internet providers, or working remote for an extended period - why tie yourself to a particular provider who does not have a nation-wide presence? Do you really want to deal with Pac-Bell or a San Diego ISP for your email when you’re in NYC?
It also depends on the contractor type. A SQL or database expert, Ok, isn’t getting hung up on internet details; but a network consultant? Hmmm…
Good, I’m a one-woman (mostly) non-tech business, and I have a comcast email address. I don’t need to advertise, so no web site, and most of my customers never see my email address anyway. It’s all done by phone.
You don’t need to advertise? As in, all your work comes through word of mouth?
(Incidentally, a website isn’t just for advertising!)
If you were male I’d think you were my father. Most of his e-mail correspondence is with suppliers, not customers, and a website wouldn’t be worth the trouble. (And honestly, I’d be somewhat surprised if his customers could figure out their own e-mails. Not exactly the cream of the crop for tech-savviness, especially the older bunch)
None whatsoever. In fact, I’d consider anyone who did as shallow and pretentious.
Chances are, we would not do business with a company like that. It sounds very fly-by-night.
I would assume the company’s leadership either has no tech people, or that they have inept tech people. Whether that mattered or not would depend on what kind of business it is.
Kind of like having one of those shallow pretentious offices with desks and chairs and copiers or wearing those prentious “shoes” to work?
The OP said “business professional” and “company”. By business professional, I take that to mean an engineer, computer programmer, accountant, whatever. And by company, I assume that to mean not an independent contractor or a couple of guys working in their mom’s basement.
If you want to be taken seriously as a company, it generally helps to have a couple of things:
A professional sounding name
A physical location somewhere
People who actually work there
Maybe a receptionist
A professional method of communication - telephone, email, fax (yes, some people still use them) and a post office address.
A professional looking presence on the internet.
Now clearly it depends what business I plan to do. If it’s just some guy with a snowplow I need to clear the driveway, who cares. In my actual job which involves analyzing and recommending vendors to my big corporate company, there is a whole formalized process companies must pass in order to do business with us, the least of which is having a valid email.
“......@sbcglobal.com” or “.....@aol.com” or whatever are perfectly valid emails.
So, you’d reject a vendor as you think their email addy is lowclass and common? Even if he underbid the others?:dubious:
Since you asked me directly …
I’d expect you to have an advertising or portfolio website someplace. And if that was at www.freehosting.com/this/that/myhomepage.html, well you woudn’t get a call back.
If it was at www.imakecoolwebsites.com, I’d sure look it over. And when the webmaster’s email came up as @gmail.com instead of @imakecoolwebsites.com, I’d start doubting a bit. I’d “view source” a few pages, figuring you were mostly a monkey-see-monkey-do user of canned site builder tools, rather than a real designer/developer.
My suspicions confirmed, I might call if I really need what you sell.
A couple years ago we needed a pretty skin on a fully functional website & hired somebody who was far more an artist than a web guy. We ended up keeping his graphics but had to replace almost all the html/css he tried to provide. Worked out fine, but was not a full-service experience by any stretch.
Hint: Web hosting comes with email. Use it. Even if you just have it all forward to your GMail.
I’m not msmith537, but . . . I wouldn’t reject the vendor outright, but I’d consider it a point to his detriment . . . especially if he underbid the others.
<slight hijack>
I overheard a woman once telling her friend how she liked this guy she had met until she discovered that he had an aol email address…
Take that for what you will. Granted, here in the silicon valley, that sort of thing counts for more than it should, but the fact is that its beginning to have a qualitative effect on your image.
No, I don’t care. I know just how cheap it is to get a domain. I know guys who start a new domain every few years - because their last business failed and they don’t want to be recognized.
It is just a way to reach a person, and shouldn’t matter in the least.